When a horse has a bowed or otherwise damaged tendon, the accepted treatment customarily employed is to turn the horse out to pasture for an extended period of time, and then to race it very lightly to avoid a recurrence of the injury. Many times the horse that has had a bowed tendon cannot be trained hard enough to race effectively again.
The tendon shield of the present invention allows a horse with a bowed tendon to continue racing effectively without incurring further injury or pain. The shield is made to fit every contour of the horse's leg in the area of the bowed tendon, thus giving the tendon a firm support and keeping it from further damage. The shield must be made of a very light weight yet strong material, able to withstand a large variance in temperature and weather conditions. According to the invention, the shield is made of plastic sheeting, heated and formed around a positive mold which is a duplicate of the leg of the horse, the positive mold having been made of rigid ceramic material from a negative mold made from epoxy resin or the like or other suitable cast material placed directly against the affected part of the leg of the horse.